Office English

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Office English / Misunderstandings

Episode 250428/ 28 Apr 2025

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Transcript

Note: This is a transcript of a spoken conversation and is not a word-for-word script.

Phil

Do you ever find you don't understand people at work?

Neil

If I don't understand a task at work, I feel frustrated. It can be a bit stressful.

Beth

It's really annoying. And you have to ask other people to help you with something.

Neil

Nobody likes to keep asking how to do something so you can end up feeling a bit stupid, really.

Pippa

In today's episode of Office English, we're talking about what to say when you don't understand.

Phil

Hello and welcome to Office English. In this series, we talk about the language you need in the modern workplace. I m Phil.

Pippa

And I'm Pippa. Find a transcript for this podcast on our website bbclearningenglish.com.

Phil

We've just heard from some of our BBC Learning English colleagues that it can be frustrating and embarrassing when there are misunderstandings at work. Is that something you've experienced, Pippa?

Pippa

Yes. I think it can feel quite awkward if you realise that you and a colleague have interpreted something in a different way. Sometimes it just is annoying because it leads to kind of wasted time, wasted effort, and it can lead to conflict. Not in my experience. Usually, you know, we just said, 'we've got our wires crossed there and we've misunderstood each other.'

Phil

It can depend what the misunderstanding's about, of course. If we're thinking about conflict, some misunderstandings might be more dangerous than others.